Well, this has certainly been a long time coming. There’s been quite a bit of that feeling going on lately for the Triple Crossing Brewing Company. My initial idea with this blog was to document, catalog, and generally let everyone inside the juggernaut of activity required to open a brewery, even for one of our size.

And so that didn’t happen. I have to admit, I felt bad about it, and swore I’d get to it “next thing”. And then that didn’t happen.

So, here we are, open for business and after a stellar opening week by our estimation, and maybe feeling like we can settle into running the brewery and tasting room without the added mess of getting the whole thing open.

And let’s not forget, the beer. Sure enough, RVA hearts hops. You all finished off our first ever IPA aptly titled Falcon Smash pretty briskly, and for that we thank you. Getting that text message was pretty great.

Which brings me to my next, and final point. We brewed another IPA prior to opening in anticipation that our first IPA would kick somewhere near first, and decided to change the recipe with this beer in a couple of ways:

- we lightened the color of the newest batch just a touch, down from a deeper orange or medium straw – if that makes sense. This version is still super dry, in fact the slightest bit drier than the previous FS.

- we changed the yeast strain from our English Ale strain, to a cleaner and higher attenuating American Ale yeast.

- we elected to omit the New Zealand Motueka hop from the beer altogether and went instead with 100% Falconers Flight in the late kettle and double dry hop.

What does all this mean?

What all this means, is that although this beer certainly flies in the spirit of Falcon Smash, they are different beers and you should expect some differences between the two.

Why did you do this?

When we envisioned this place, we fully intended to experiment, tweak, mess with, and try anything we deemed fit to create better and more interesting beers. This brewery was born out of experimentation and will continue to thrive on that, even if it means a little risk taking.

So what does all this mean again?

Try the beer, and tell us what you think. Should this beer be Falcon Smash or should the first version, or both? We’re brewing the beer, but we’re also watching and listening to what you’re drinking… I mean, just not in that way though.